Climate Conversations

A letter in response to David Remnick’s article (November 19, 2012)

Remnick’s piece reasserts the urgent need to address the challenge of climate change, which went unmentioned during any of the 2012 Presidential debates. But what Remnick—and most liberals—continually fails to recognize is that there is a certain kind of “magical thinking” required to believe that all we need to do is initiate a “big government” program that includes large investments in clean energy, along with improved emission standards, regulations, and incentives for companies. The biggest current threat to our planet remains global capitalism itself. As long as there are profits to be made from burning fossil fuels, someone will insist on doing just that, without regard for the environmental consequences. As long as hyper-consumption, planned obsolescence, and disposable products are profitable, our planet will remain in peril. As long as our economic systems require constant growth, we will continue to put too much stress on our ecosystem. Some say that it’s a fantasy to hope for a worldwide revolution that replaces the profit motive with rational thinking and collaborative planning. But the real fantasy is that capitalism can be properly tamed through regulation, “cap and trade” programs, or any other market-based approach. We need a true democracy, in which communities decide what is the most sensible way to satisfy their energy needs, without the interference of people and institutions that are primarily interested in profit.

Dave Ratzlow

Brooklyn, N.Y.

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